As other reviews have commented, the sequel continues right where the first book ended, where several key characters are trying to form new political alliances, and both Gordon and Asa are trying to understand the complexities of their world.

I would not like to spoil much of the plot, because it would reveal too many hints about key points of the first book. One thing that will strike very boldly in this book is that we get a (fairytale) glimpse of the secretive country of Extatumn. TrTorrin conquered those lands around 20 years ago and has converted it into a highly secretive socialist country where only those in the highest rings of power enjoy any true privileges, as long as they fully align with their Dear Father's twisted vision.

The book has a lot of very good merits (especially the ending where everything seems to nicely wrap itself), but there are things that they let me down a bit. This is no "The Empire Strikes Back", where the heros suffer great catastrophes such as Han Solo being imprisoned in carbonite to be taken to Jabba as a gift and Luke losing his right hand the moment he discovers Darth Vader's true identity. The struggles and serious sense of danger from the first book were toned down in this sequel. Gordon is more of a meek passerby listening to TrTorrin's rants and doesn't really grow much as a character in the book. There are few true dangers for the two boy kings, and they always seem to get saved in the nick of time by their respective allies. This is furthermore drained by text that still needed a few rounds of edits to remove excessive description (such as scenes where you know that they are referring to Brenddel's ship will mention this is his ship several times even though it is quite obvious from the context), and scenes that could have been more dramatic lost some of that emotion by too much telling. There are also some typos in the text that confuse similar sounding words: were and where, your and you're, to and too, check and cheek.

I would have wanted Gordon to have faced far greater danger, maybe give Lantovas a bit more of a prominent role given he was unwillingly tossed into this adventure in the first book, and then ultimately reveal the identity of Ellice and her relationship with Loren and Gordon until the final third of the novel. Or maybe have Gordon not accept the truth about Ellice and act more like a rowdy 13 year old teenage boy would be expected to react.

Brenddel continues to be my favorite character in the novel, and I really enjoyed the brief scenes he spends with sweet Asa. Quite frankly, I kind of like Asa's character more than Gordon. He knew full-hand that his life was under constant danger because he was just a few steps away from Thurndulin, and despite the risks, he quietly took advantage of being in front of the nation's citizens to openly conteract Thurndulinn's authority. He has grown very much from the first book indeed!

All in all, while the sequel was unable to exceed the very high expectations of the first book, it was a fun easygoing read with a lot of very fun scenes and with many things that could possibly happen in the third book. ( )